Just a week ago we heard that the US were planning to apply new limits when it comes to hardware sales on Huawei devices. Now, it seems like it’s finally happening as. Plans for new measures by the United States could threaten the supply of 14-nanometer chips by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to China’s Huawei.
Huawei has been accused by several countries of maintaining close ties to China’s military establishment and of functioning as an arm of the communist government, leading to its 5G and other electronic systems becoming the focus of suspicions. Due to this, the Trump Administration was preparing a maximum limit of 10 percent U.S. technology for products to be supplied to Huawei, the Liberty Times reported earlier yesterday.
Of TSMC chips, the 7-nm products only contain for 9 percent U.S. technology or parts, so they would not pose a problem, but for the 14-nm semiconductors, the U.S. content rises to 15 percent. This means that if the restriction comes into play, TSMC will no longer be able to ship 14nm chips to Huawei.
When reached out to for a comment on the likelihood of such a restriction, TSMC said that at present, the U.S. had not changed its rules. The company would not answer questions about purely hypothetical situations, according to the Liberty Times. This means that for now, all we can really do is wait and see what happens.
Oppo is all set to launch its next-generation Reno lineup of smartphones — Oppo Reno3 and Reno3 Pro in China in a couple of hours. Now, ahead of the launch, the company has shared yet another teaser video, highlighting the Reno3 Pro smartphone’s key features.
The video basically highlights and compiles what the company has already teased about the upcoming smartphone. It shows that the phone will come with a full-screen design with a punch-hole display at the top-left corner for housing front-facing cameras.
It also highlights that fact that the bezel around the display is very narrow and thus it offers higher screen-to-body ratio. On the back side, the smartphone features a gradient color scheme to make its look attractive.
The smartphone comes equipped with a quad-camera setup on the back and the company has also confirmed that the device measures just 7.7mm in thickness. Further, all the models in the series will come with support for 5G connectivity.
As per the leaks, the Reno3 5G has a full HD+ 6.4-inch AMOLED display with waterdrop notch. On the other side, the Reno3 Pro 5G has a full HD+ curved AMOLED punch-hole display with 90Hz refresh rate support. Both phones feature in-display fingerprint scanner. The MediaTek Dimensity 1000L chipset powers the Reno3 5G while the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G SoC is fuelling the Reno3 Pro 5G.
Coming to the camera configuration, both devices have 32-megapixel selfie cameras. The Reno3 5G is fitted with a 48-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel + 2-megapixel quad camera setup whereas the Reno3 Pro 5G features a 64-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel + 2-megapixel quad camera system.
Both phones have 4,025mAh battery and they carry support for the enhanced version of 30W VOOC 4.0 Flash Charge technology. The Android 10 operating system with ColorOS 7 custom user interface will come loaded on the Reno3 series.
According to the leaks, the base model of the Reno3 Pro 5G will be priced at 3,699 Yuan (~$529) and its higher model will cost 4,199 Yuan (~$601). However, we advise you to take the pricing leak with a grain of salt as there is no concrete evidence to prove if the reports are authentic.
We recently reported that the reservations for both the devices are already up in China and have crossed 500,000 registrations already. Check out the roundup of everything that is known about the Reno3 series here.
The likes of Razer, Black Shark, Nubia Red Magic from ZTE, and Asus ROG have started a new trend of gaming smartphone which has now become a thing. The gaming smartphones come with powerful set of specifications to offer smoother gaming experience.
Now, joining the list of companies launching gaming smartphones is Lenovo. The company has recently set up a new Weibo page and it seems that the Lenovo Legion branded gaming smartphone is coming soon.
The company’s Legion brand has been working on gaming products for some time and seems to have grasp over the users’ need in this field. Thus, it makes sense for the company the gaming smartphone filed under this brand.
Earlier, in April this year, Chang Cheng, Vice President of Lenovo had revealed that the gaming smartphone from the company could be launched as early as next year. While it is not clear that the company is gearing up to launch this device, nothing is known about upcoming smartphone’s specifications and features.
While gaming smartphones keep on growing in the market, it remains to be seen how this new category of devices manage to establish itself in the market given that premium flagship smartphones are now adopting some of the features of the gaming series such as cooling solutions, higher memory configurations, etc.
Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus has revealed that the company will be hosting an event on 7th January 2020 during CES in Las Vegas. It has confirmed that the company will unveil its OnePlus Concept One smartphone at the event.
While nothing is known about this concept smartphone coming from OnePlus, reports indicate that the device in question could be a foldable smartphone. Now, just a couple of weeks before the event, a new OnePlus smartphone has passed through the radio certifications process.
As per the information released through the certification process, the smartphone supports both SA and NSA dual-mode 5G connectivity and covers a range of 5G frequency bands including N1, N41, N78, and N79.
Reports indicate that the OnePlus will be launching three smartphones in its flagship lineup next year, which could include OnePlus 8, 8 Pro, and 8 Lite. As per the reports, the smartphone certified is expected to be the OnePlus 8 Pro.
Last month, an alleged product diagram of the OnePlus 8 Pro has been leaked online, which showcases the quad-camera setup on the smartphone’s back panel. It shows camera module that sits at the top-center position, with all the sensors aligned vertically. Along with the triple-camera setup we saw on the OnePlus 7T Pro, the company will be adding a ToF sensor as the fourth one.
On the front side, the company will be ditching the pop-up camera mechanism and will instead opt for the punch-hole design. From the leaked image, it look like OnePlus 8 will have a cut-out in the top-left corner of the display for a single camera sensor while the Pro variant will have two front-facing cameras.
Coming to the specifications, the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro are rumored to be equipped with 6.4-inch and 6.7-inch S-AMOLED E3 curved dual punch-hole display that supports 120Hz refresh rate. As for the resolution, the 8 Pro is expected to produce quad HD+ resolution of 1440 x 3140 pixels while 8 and 8 Lite will offer full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels. The OnePlus 8 Lite may house a 6.4-inch S-AMOLED E2 display with 90Hz refresh rate. All three phones will sport an in-screen fingerprint reader.
The OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro is powered by Snapdragon 865 mobile platform and X55 5G modem that brings support for 5G connectivity. Both models are expected to come in 8/12 GB LPDDR5 RAM variants and USF 3.0 storage options such as 128/256 GB. On the other side, the OnePlus 8 Lite is expected to feature the Dimensity 1000 SoC, 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM and UFS 3.0 storage of 128/256 GB.
OnePlus 8 Pro Renders
The OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro may feature 32-megapixel (Sony IMX616 Iens) + 3D ToF dual camera system. The OnePlus 8 Lite may feature a front-facing camera of 16-megapixel (Sony IMX471) housed inside a single punch-hole on the screen.
The OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Lite may come with a 4,000mAh batteries that support 30W fast charging while the Pro model may come with a larger 4,500mAh battery with 35W fast charging. The pricing for this series is expected to start at 2,999 yuan (~$428).
Huawei announced its first foldable phone this year. While the Mate X did get postponed a few times before going on sale, it has been well-received. Come next year, Huawei will follow it up with two more foldable devices – the Mate Xs and the Mate X2.
Huawei Mate X
We already know the Mate Xs is a revamped version of the Mate X with a Kirin 990 5G processor, a better hinge design, and a tougher screen. And it is scheduled to launch in March 2020 during Mobile World Congress 2020. However, the Mate X2 is the one we are excited about.
According to @RODENT950, Huawei will announce the Huawei Mate X2 in the third quarter of next year. Based on the date, the foldable device should be powered by the upcoming Kirin 1000 processor and will most likely be unveiled at IFA 2020.
Mate X2 will be like galaxy Fold but it's have full sized phone screen and maybe smaller notification/ selfie screen to other side.
He goes on to reveal more details about the device in another tweet.
With respect to its appearance, the Mate X2 will adopt a design similar to that of the Samsung Galaxy Fold. This means it will not fold outwards but inwards. He adds that it will have a full-sized phone screen and then a smaller display on the outside for notifications or selfies.
What we can deduce from the above is that the Mate X2 will not unfold into a tablet but into a standard phone with a full-screen, probably between 6.5-inches and 6.9-inches. Based on this design, the phone should have a smaller footprint when folded and should fit into pockets easily.
Last month, a Huawei patent showing a device that folds vertically like the Motorola Razr 2019 was published by the World Intellectual Property Office. The diagrams showed that when folded, it didn’t fold into two equal halves. This left a part of the display sticking out that can serve as a sort of secondary display for showing notifications.
What do you think about the rumored design of the Mate X2? let us know in the comment box.
Call it whatever you like, but you can take away the fact that Xiaomi products have got good designs. This came to the fore once again with the launch of the Mi AI Touchscreen Speaker Pro 8. The smart speaker may soon get support for other voice assistants like Google Assistant but we’ll have to wait for more information in that regard. for now, the use of the speaker may be restricted to Chinese speakers but no harm in checking out the amazing design and software features that found their way into the touchscreen speaker.
The new Xiaomi’s Mi AI Touchscreen Speaker Pro 8 design bears some semblance with that of the Amazon Echo Show and may have been inspired by the Echo Show but can be regarded as a cheaper version manufactured with quality in mind.
The smart speaker features an 8-inch touchscreen display panel having a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels and an oleophobic coating. The display is surrounded by large bezels and at the top, there is a front camera. The back houses the speaker and it also extends to form the base. The power and volume buttons are located at the back panel on the left side just after the speaker. The charging port is located on the bottom right corner of the speaker. The device dorns the Mi logo on the speaker which is said to be tuned to deliver quality sound output.
For functionality, the Mi AI Touchscreen Pro 8 can be used to control a number of smart home products including those from IoT platforms such as Philips, Viomi, Yeelight, Smartmi, Konke, and Roborock. The speaker also comes with an advanced Bluetooth Mesh Gateway which enables connecting several devices at a go and that can be done via voice prompt. But as stated earlier on, we are not sure this is applicable outside the Chinese language. We expect Xiaomi to release a WiFi version later on.
You can equally deploy the Smart speaker for other uses, though, such as an alarm clock, a digital photo frame, and a Bluetooth speaker. For a 599 yuan ($86) gadget, it is worth having while we wait for XiaoAI to get an English version or Google Assistant to hop onboard.
Check out more unboxing/hands-on pictures of the Mi AI Smart Speaker Pro 8 from the gallery below.
While we are yet to receive any report about the sales of the Mi Note 10 Pro and Mijia Rice Cooker, the Mi Band 4 is said to be smashing records in the Asian country. The smart band was put on sale on Amazon Japan and according to data from Amazon, the Band 4 is the number one highest selling wearable in the activity tracker category. The ranking is based on sales data collected by Amazon and since it has not changed, it shows the smart band is still the top-selling activity tracker in Japan.
The Mi Band 4 is also raked as number one “hot new releases”, number one “Most Wished For” and Mst Gifted smart band all under the activity trackers category. The wearable device is sold in Japan for (3839 yen, about 245 yuan, ) which is pretty affordable.
OPPO’s Reno series is all set to get a refresh tomorrow, at the official Reno3 5G launch event in Hangzhou, China. The Reno3 5G and Reno3 Pro 5G models will be officially announced tomorrow alongside the company’s new OPPO Enco Free TWS earbuds. With their launch tomorrow, OPPO would also officially label the Reno series as the smartphone lineup with one of the shortest product cycles ever! After all, this would be the third-generation model, with the first-gen device being announced just 10 months ago!
Despite having a 5G phone in the market – the OPPO Reno 5G, the Reno3 5G duo will be the pioneering the company’s growth in this emerging market. Both phones are expected to be mid-range with a few premium features and will ditch the pop-up camera design of its predecessors.
Since the OPPO Reno3 5G and the Reno3 Pro 5G differ quite significantly, let’s take a look at what to expect from each device individually.
The OPPO Reno3 5G will be what the Redmi K20 was in the K20 series. It will bring 5G, an AMOLED display, a quad-camera setup, and a thin sub-8mm body at a cheaper price tag than the Pro model.
Leaked Render of the Reno3 5G
In terms of design, the Reno3 5G and its Pro sibling will differ quite significantly on the front. The Reno3 5G will feature a flat 6.4-inch Super AMOLED FHD+ display with a waterdrop notch on top. If you know, motorized camera setups ensure you have a full-screen display, but they have a drawback. Pop-up camera-equipped phones are heavier and thicker than traditional front camera solutions, like a waterdrop notch. OPPO is giving priority to a slimmer and comfortable form factor on the Reno3 5G and hence, you get the waterdrop notch on its display.
At the back, things are very similar to the ‘Pro’ version. We can expect a quad-camera setup on the top left corner with the bottom two cameras sharing the same sub-housing. This is what differentiates the Reno3 with the Pro version, which has all the four cameras within its pill-shaped camera housing. The words ‘Ultra Steady’ are written beside the quad-camera solution, which confirms the phone will have some sort of video feature like the ‘Super Stable’ mode on the OnePlus 7 series.
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In terms of specs, the quad-camera setup is expected to feature a 64MP primary shooter with an 8MP wide-angle sensor, and two other 2MP sensors, likely for Macro and bokeh. On the front, you can expect a 32MP shooter to take care of your selfies.
Inside, the OPPO Reno3 5G is confirmed to feature the Dimensity 1000L 5G processor. We can expect Mali-G77 GPU to be paired with the CPU for a pretty good graphics performance. There should be an 8GB RAM + 128GB ROM variant alongside a high-end 12GB RAM + 128GB ROM model. A large 4025mAh battery should take care of the power requirements with the 30W VOOC 4.0 fast charging technology.
As for the pricing, the 8GB RAM + 128GB model of the Reno3 5G is rumored to start at 3,199 Yuan ($458) while the 12GB RAM + 128GB model could be priced at 3,599 Yuan ($515).
OPPO Reno3 Pro 5G is going to be the star of the launch event tomorrow. The phone will feature a beautiful curved 6.5-inch display on the two sides, kind of like the Galaxy S10. I mentioned the Galaxy S10, and not the OnePlus 7T Pro here simply because it shares one another feature that’s present on the S10 – a punch-hole camera. The OPPO Reno3 Pro 5G is confirmed to feature a punch-hole camera on the top left corner of the display. It looks like punch-hole cameras are gaining traction in the premium smartphone segment with the likes of the Redmi K30 5G, Vivo X30 Pro 5G, and even the upcoming Realme X50 featuring one, or even two, punch-hole shooters on the display. Note that the display will feature a high 90Hz refresh rate.
Leaked OPPO REno3 Pro 5G Sunrise Impression color
The Reno3 Pro 5G will also come with a slim profile, measuring just 7.7mm in thickness and 171 grams, a far cry from the 9mm thick and 190+ gram weight of the Reno2 Z or even the OPPO Reno 5G models. To make things really interesting, OPPO has confirmed that the phone will feature a 4025mAh battery with 30W fast charging too, in this slim form factor. At the back, the quad-cameras will be arranged vertically, in a pill-shaped design.
Reno3 Pro 5G will have a curved display
It is expected that both, the OPPO Reno3 5G and the Reno3 Pro 5G will ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack. To recall, the OPPO Reno 5G model didn’t have this dedicated jack, but it made a comeback with the Reno2 Z. Even the Pro model is expected to feature an in-display fingerprint solution. There should be four colors available at launch: Misty White, Sunrise Impression (Blue-red gradient), Blue Starry Night, and Midnight Black.
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The quad-cameras at the back should feature a 48MP primary camera, with an 8MP shooter (likely wide-angle), another 13MP sensor (telephoto likely), and a 2MP shooter (possibly for macro or bokeh). According to a recent Geekbench listing, the OPPO Reno3 Pro 5G, aka PCRMOO scored 2847 and 7686 in the benchmark test. It didn’t reveal the processor inside but OPPO has already confirmed that it will use the Snapdragon 765G octa-core chipset, the same one that powers the Redmi K30 5G.
Both phones are expected to run on ColorOS 7 based on Android 10.
The OPPO Reno3 Pro 5G’s 8GB RAM + 128GB ROM model is rumored to start at 3699 yuan ($529) and it could go up to 4199 yuan ($601) for the 12GB RAM +256GB top-end variant.
Last week, CAD-based renders of the Huawei P40 and Huawei P40 Pro were posted online by @OnLeaks. The images gave us a partial look at the design of the upcoming flagship phones. The most notable part is the rear camera design which is the same design Samsung is going to use for the upcoming Galaxy S20 series as well as multiple other phones. Now an alleged render of the P40 Pro has surfaced and it shows the arrangement of the rear cameras.
The image shows the Huawei P40 Pro in a pale-blue colorway. The rectangular housing holds a total of five cameras – four sensors stacked on top of each other on the left while the fifth sensor which is the periscope camera sits at the top right. Rather than fit in the LED flash inside the camera housing along with the sensors, the image shows Huawei has placed it underneath.
The remaining four sensors should consist of the primary camera, an ultrawide camera, a macro camera, and a ToF camera. According to OnLeaks, the primary sensor is a 64MP Sony IMX686 sensor while the ultrawide angle camera is a 20MP sensor. The periscope camera is rumored to be a 12MP sensor.
It is important to state that the aforementioned camera details are unconfirmed including the image, so you should take it with a grain of salt.
The Huawei P40 Pro will have a Quad HD+ curved display that measures 6.5-inches and has a 98% screen-to-body-ratio. It is also said to have a 90Hz refresh rate according to @RODENT950.
Powering the phone should be the Kirin 990 5G chipset and it is rumored to draw power from a massive 5500mAh battery. Reports say the phone will have support for 50W SuperCharge wired charging and we expect it to also have support for wireless charging too. When it launches, it should run EMUI 10 based on Android 10 out of the box.
Counterpoint Research has just released research data of the top 10 highest-selling phones globally in the third quarter (Q3) 2019. The data encompasses phones sold in all parts of the world and presents with some surprises.
First, Apple’s iPhone XR emerged as the highest-grossing model in the third quarter of 2019 even though Apple’s overall sales declined during the period. Samsung and OPPO dominated the ranking with three top-selling models apiece. The Galaxy A10 is ranked as the second top-selling model while the Galaxy A50 came in as third. The OPPO A9 is ranked at the fourth spot while the iPhone 11 completes the top 5.
Other models in the list include the OPPO A5s at the sixth position, Galaxy A50 at number seven, OPPO A5 at the eighth position. Xiaomi’s budget Redmi 7A came in at the ninth position and finally, the Huawei P30 completes the top 10. The P30 may be a surprise inclusion considering the US sanctions but the model is very popular in China.
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has certified two new audio products from Xiaomi. The first is the Mi Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones that was certified yesterday and there is the Mi Wireless Charger Bluetooth Speaker that received its certification today.
Mi Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones
Xiaomi already has a bunch of headphones but it is set to announce a new model that will arrive as the Mi Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones (probably different name in China). Unlike the Mi Superbass Wireless Headphones, this should have active noise cancelation.
The certificate reveals the headphones’ model number is TDLYEJ02WM and will connect via Bluetooth 5.0. It most likely should have the option to be used in wired mode too.
Mi Wireless Charger Bluetooth Speaker
The second product is the Mi Wireless Charger Bluetooth Speaker with the model number XMWXCLYYX01ZM. Depending on how you want to interpret it, this is a wireless charger that doubles as a Bluetooth speaker or a Bluetooth speaker that has a wireless charger built-in.
Actually, the description on the certificate says “This is a Bluetooth speaker that can provide high-quality music and also provide wireless charging function conforming to the Qi (wireless charging) standard”.
This product will most likely not be officially sold outside China but when it launches, you should be able to order it from third-party retail sites.
The Mi Wireless Charger Bluetooth Speaker is not Xiaomi’s first wireless combo device. At the beginning of the year, it announced the Yeelight Wireless Charging Night Lamp that is a bedside lamp and wireless charger combined.
There is no info regarding the launch of both products as at the time of writing but once there is, we will make sure to inform you.
Xiaomi‘s ecological chain company Ninebot announced the Ninebot E-series and C-series electric motorbikes in China a couple of weeks back. The E-series made up of the Ninebot E80C, E90, E100, E125 and E200P is scheduled to be launched for the global market at CES 2020 bt the sales in China is about to roll. The E-series models are now available to pre-order in China. Only the E80C, E100 and E125 are available and it has a starting price of 4999 yuan ($715) for the base model. The E100 comes in at 7999 yuan ($1144) while the E125 adopts a 10,299 yuan ($14463) price tag.
All the models have several features which distinguish them from each other ranging from their maximum speed to battery range and others. The high-end variant is the NineBot E200P but isn’t available yet. The E200P has a maximum speed of 100km/h and a staggering range of 200km. The base version -Ninebot E80C comes with a range of 90km and a maximum speed of 51km/h. The E90 has a range of 100km and max. speed tops at 55km/h. Both the E80C and E90 pack a 1.2Kw battery but the E80C uses a Lead acid battery.
The Ninebot E-series e-bikes come with several smart features. The bike can recognize scenes such as riding, pushing, and getting off. The bike can automatically switch according to the scene, such as when it is pushed uphill, it will automatically assist. Through a variety of sensors and smart scene recognition, the bike can be driven at the touch of a button. When a rider gets onboard, the side stays retracts automatically and when they get out of the car, they can automatically put the side stays and lock the car automatically.
In addition, the Ninebot E-series supports positioning tracking (GPS) and remote control of the bike. In addition to GPS positioning, it can be remotely controlled to lock and trigger an alarm if lost. In terms of anti-theft, the e-bike has an active anti-theft system, and an anti-theft module is integrated into the entire body of the electric vehicle. Officials say thieves have no way to bypass the alarm device by destroying the module.
The Ninebot E-series is equipped with Segway-Ninebot 5.0 car assistant, which can display real-time key information such as vehicle speed, battery status and mileage to ensure driving safety. Other features include a 2100 lumens smart headlights, floating full-screen control panel, a 22L of storage compartment under the seat, a built-in module that records information such as car habits which can be retrieved during repairs.
This is not the first time that Chuwi releases a Mini PC as there has been the GBox Pro in the past. The new model that goes by the name HeroBox and will soon launch on Amazon is the upgraded version of GBox Pro and will come with Intel’s Gemini Lake N4100 CPU backed by 8GB of RAM and 180GB SSD. Also, it sports a metal body and many expansion ports.
Sufficient configuration leads to great performance
The N4100 CPU can reach 2.4GHz function frequency and offers adequate performance and low power consumption. Also, it comes with the 9th Gen UHD Graphics 600 GPU that is pretty much twice as fast as the previous generation. Having 18 processing units, it can decode 4K VP9 10bit videos smoothly.
Meanwhile, the 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM is not only faster than DDR3 but also consumes less power. Combined with the Intel 180GB SSD, it allows the HeroBox to be 3x faster than the previous model in terms of read/write speeds. What’s more, there are many ports available like 2x USB Type-C, 2x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, microSD slot, HDMI, VGA, etc.
Lastly, it comes with Windows 10 preinstalled so all the familiar functions and applications are there whether you use it for work or entertainment. And even if you don’t want to use Windows, you can always install a Linux distribution as all hardware drivers are already available.
Multiple-use scenes
As said before, the HeroBox is an all-around Mini PC that you can use as a home cinema thanks to its powerful video decoding capabilities. It supports VESA so that you can attach it at the back of your TV or PC monitor and forget that it’s there. Also, thanks to its low power consumption, you can use it as a NAS storage server that will be working 24/7 with minimal power cost. It consumes less than 10W and you can expand the 180GB SSD up to 2TB.
Compared with similar mini PCs
Just as a reference, if you compare it with other similarly priced mini PCs like the Intel NUC6CAYH that comes without RAM and SSD and you’d have to buy them extra, it really has no opponent. Apart from the fact that HeroBox comes with RAM and SSD, the NUC6CAYH features an older CPU-GPU combination as it sports the Intel J3455 CPU and HD Graphics 500 GPU. Also, it supports the slower DDR3 protocol. As you can see, no matter the hardware configuration or the cost/performance ratio, the NUC6CAYH can’t reach the HeroBox.
To sum up, the Chuwi HeroBox is a perfect all-around mini PC with great build quality thanks to the metal chassis and fanless design. The device will hit the Japanese market first costing about $200 and will soon expand to the rest of the world. To learn more information, visit the official product page.
As it stands, OPPO is basically a smartphone manufacturing company even though it is planning to shift its focus to internet-based business next year. The brand’s smartphone has seen a tremendous change since the OPPO Find 7 bestrode the tech scene donning as its biggest feature a VOOC fast charge technology. Since then, several models including flagships like the OPPO Reno, Find X2 and others have been released.
OPPO recently took some media personnel on a tour of one of its nine factories in Shenzhen where it manufactures most of its models including the Reno 2, the upcoming Reno 3 5G, and the Find X2, which have proved popular in Europe and India.
Charging port test
The factory is adorned with reels of resistors, transistors, and capacitors fed through expensive machinery that automates the manufacture of motherboards. Robotic arms, like those you’d find on any assembly line, put newly minted phones through dual-camera, antenna, and GPS tests.
The smartphones are put into two rooms at the end of the manufacturing process, the phones. One of the rooms is made out of metal and it reflects radio waves and tests the average power of the device. The second room is completely dark and mimics the phone being used in an infinite space without any invisible interference. Before the phones are finally packaged for shipment they go through several rigorous testing such as drop tests. The charging ports, cables, power/volume buttons are also subjected to rigorous tests to ensure they’ll stand the stress of daily usage.
Wet Test
We recall Xiaomi also took the media on a tour of its Foxconn factory showing a similar routine. So this all seems to be a standard routine. Check out pictures from the factory.
The Samsung Technology & Advanced Research Labs (Star Labs) teased a product called NEON this week. They’ve suggested that they’ll be revealing the details on this mysterious product at CES 2020 – that’s just a few short weeks away. We’ve gleaned just a little bit of information on what NEON could be based on what’s already out there so far.
NEON exists on the internet right now on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and has a domain of its own at NEON.life – originally registered on October 9, 2019. The website suggests that it’ll be “COMING JAN 2020” – which aligns with the social networking messaging which says they’ll appear at CES 2020.
From what we already know, Neon appears to be like some kind of mysterious artificial intelligence (AI) project. According to a tweet by Bo Moon, Head of Strategy at STAR Labs, he’s “Been working late nights and weekends and totally feeling that start-up life again. Looking forward to unveiling the new company with the team at #CES2020 in January. You won’t want to miss this…”
Then later on December 16th, President and CEO of STAR Labs, Pranav Mistry, went and tweeted that “for past few years, I have been working on something exciting. FOLLOW @neondotlife to learn more. Please SHARE and ask your friends to join, too. http://neon.life”. The mystery only seems to thicken the more we know.
Samsung has teased that NEON will be a “human-level AI,” but it may heavily depend upon access to a working 5G network. The aim of developing the AI is to offer human beings a unique experience with their electronic assistant. If it’s anywhere near as good as the team claims, then Alexa and Siri should probably be worried about NEON. NEON’s site doesn’t divulge anything, but we’re definitely looking forward to how it turns out.
Jin Fan, product director of Xiaomi and head of MIUI user experience, revealed that the company has redesigned the MIUI Ambient Display clock. Jin Fan revealed that this feature has just entered the development version of the testing period, and if there are no problems, it will be pushed to the stable version soon.
Ambient Display is what Xiaomi is calling their living display feature. It’s a bit different from other company’s implementation in that Xiaomi’s version has a bigger focus on customisability. The problem was, even though the designs were customisable, they were limited to analog clocks looks. Now, we’ve got a much nicer digital clock look with text.
Users can also make their own customizable message that appears on the Ambient Display. On top of this, the animations on the Ambient display even serve as a notification indicator, with interchangeable breathing lights being used to show when messages or notifications have appeared. It’s not the most important of features, but it’s a big focus of MIUI 11.
This same design language has been applied to almost every section of MIUI 11, resulting in a clean and modern look. It’s not all that surprising to see. All the old clutter from MIUI 10 has been removed from the UI, and it’s clearly much better than before. There’s a lot more white space and bold colours, which is the current trend in the smartphone market.
The days of VCRs, CDs, DVDs have faded away with the invent of video streaming apps. The old means of video content is dying a slow death, and video streaming is replacing them with the increasing accessibility of the internet across the globe. Gone are the days when the users need to stick to a timeline to watch their favorite television program or a movie. The users can now easily stream their favorite show, series online without worrying about the time. We have concluded a list of some best video streaming apps for Android and iOS.
There are several benefits of using video streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu. Live Streaming is an active mode of streaming video and audio content anywhere around the world using an Internet Connection. It extends from live streaming online tutorials, movies, events, wildlife broadcasting, and services promotions.
High-Quality Video Content – The users can enjoy content in different qualities like 720p, 1080p, 2K, or 4K.
Broader Audience Potential – Irrespective of time, device, and display size, Online video streaming can reach a wider audience.
Subtitle and Multi-Language Audio – The availability of subtitles and Multi-Language Audio makes Online Video Streaming more powerful.
Ease and Convenience – Due to cross-platform availability and easy internet accessibility, Online Video Streaming service is easy and convenient to use.
Online Video streaming services have gained huge popularity over-time leading to massive competition. The services like Netflix, Hulu, and others are offering original content with support for HDR, 4K, Subtitles, and Multi-Audio channels along with attractive pricing.
Here’s the whole list of best video streaming services available for watching movies and shows. We have sorted salient features of each app to ease comparing against each to other.
Best Video Streaming Apps
Netflix
Netflix is the world’s largest online streaming service with massive content availability. It has a diverse range of titles with availability in different languages and qualities. It is available in most of the countries with native content availability.
The content on Netflix supports HDR, Dolby Vision, 4K resolution, and subtitles. The streaming service can be streamed on Micracast, Chromecast, Smart TVs, and Game Consoles. It also comes with parental support to filter unsuitable content for children. It also offers the ability to download and watch TV episodes or movies without streaming.
Netflix plans vary country wise and offer attractive plans.
Amazon Prime Video is among the leading video streaming services around the globe. It offers a lot of content, including thrillers, drama, action, romance, and other genres. Amazon Prime comes with Originals like Inside Edge, Made in heaven, and others.
There’s a great selection of local content too. It offers movies for every mood, genre, and language. The watch later features of the Amazon Prime make it easy for the users to watch their favorite content even if the internet connection is not available. There’s also a feature to add suggested titles to watchlist. It is available in almost every popular OS environment.
The users will get free access to movies, music, and other premium services of Amazon with the Amazon Prime membership. The subtitles, multiple audio tracks, and 4K content are some pros of Amazon Prime Video.
Amazon Prime Membership is available in different attractive pricing.
Hulu is widely used in the US due to its ability to stream Live TV and the availability of other streaming content, including old TV shows, movies, anime, and others. The service also offers over 50 channels with an option to expand for money. The user can also watch episodes and browse shows under the same roof.
Hulu offers six personalized profiles for everyone in the family who wants to brose shows, movies, and networks. The users can also personalize the content by adding shows to favorites for quick access. The app is available for TVs, smartphones, and tablets.
It also offers premium discover networks feature to search shows from popular streaming services like HBO, SHOWTIME, CINEMAX, and others.
Hulu is available in three different personalized plans, including – Hulu, Hulu (No Ads), and Hulu + Live TV. The free plan offers to stream content from over 85000 episodes of the shows with advertisements. There’s aNo Ads plan also that gives you everything without any ads. However, the Hulu + Live TV brings to access to the entire Hulu streaming library with 60+ top channels of on-demand live TV.
It is solely for the US readers, who love to watch big premieres on TV or other devices as they air. It’s the only way to catch up with your favorite shows aired on HBO Now. The app brings unlimited access to all the HBO content across EPIX Now, STARZ, and other channels having individual streaming apps.
The HBO New brings new movies, talk shows, comedy specials, news, documentaries, and other special events every week. The user can use the account on Phone, tablet, TV, or Laptop. It is home to the biggest movie hits of the year.
The users can also try the HBO Now under a free trial. The user need not to undergo any documentation or cable connectivity; it just airs without any wired connectivity across phones, tablets, and other devices. There’s also an ability to cancel anytime. It supports the casting option.
The pricing of the device is a bit expensive at $14.99 per month. It is available only in the territories of the United States.
YouTube offers plenty of features and is home to most of the video content. Over the past some time, a lot of entertainment channel has propped up offering quality content to users for free or at some subscription fees. However, YouTube TV provides a selection of excellent live sports, news channels, and infotainment sops. There’s also compatibility with NBA League Pass, Showtime, and Starz for your subscription.
On the lines of Amazon Originals, YouTube also got some Original episodes for some people. Apart from Prime content, YouTube is home to tutorials, music, and movies too. The content is compatible upto 8K resolution with some other features. There are native apps for phones, tablets, and smart TVs on different Operating Systems.
There are some companion apps such as YouTube Gaming and YouTube Kids. The support for Chromecast and Google Assistant makes it more compatible with smart devices. Most of the content is available for free, but to get ads-free experience, the users can get a subscription of $12-$40 per month.
It is a den for the gamers, as it is the best service for gaming video streaming. Twitch allows people to watch online video gaming, live e-sports, and other news. It is easy to set up and user-friendly with flexible options to use the service.
Big game development companies make announcements on Twitch. It even organizes gaming events like E3 for the development of the community. The hefty amount of prizes are awarded to winners. It is a great competitor to YouTube Gaming Hub.
It is best suitable for professional and regular gamers. The Twitch services are free to use with some unskippable in-video ads. However, it is not available for mobile users.
Sling TV is one of the first services that was launched to watch live television. It is quite an affordable service at $20-$25 per month. It features all the local sports channel, popular news channels, and other entertainment sops as well. The support for Chromecast is another major feature of Sling TV.
The users can choose between different channel bundles and can select the TV channels on the a la carte style. It also offers live sports like the NFL and college football, hit TV shows and 65,000+ hours of on-demand TV shows and movies.
Sling TV can be streamed anywhere and anytime on TVs, tablets, phones, computers, gaming consoles, and other devices.
The Sling service offers Sling Orange package with 30+ channels, and Sling Blue service with 40+ channels. Sling TV offers live international TV service in the US with support of over 18 languages, including Hindi, Spanish, Arabic.
It is a new era video streaming app that consolidates several services under a single roof. Movies Anywhere is a host to iTunes, Vudu, Amazon Video, and Google Play Movies. The service allows the users to purchase the video content from anywhere and brings all them up in a single app.
It moves all the movie libraries that are connected with the app. It helps to eliminate the demerits or the restrictions applied from the other platforms while watching the content. Movies Anywhere help the user to cast the content on the favorite device.
Movie Anywhere features 4K UHD, HDR, and Dolby Vision feature along with 5.1 Surround sound and Dolby ATMOS support. The apps is available for free on both iOS and Android device.
Key Features:
Support for HDR, UHD and Dolby Vision
Advanced Sound Experience with Dolby ATMOS and 5.1 Surround SOund
These are some best video streaming services available for both Android and iOS devices. The can easily use these apps for free or with a subscription. If you have any recommendations, then do let us know via the comments below.
Huawei announced new MateBook D computers last month. The manufacturer did say the computers ship with Windows 10 out of the box but it appears the Windows edition has not been available for purchase.
Huawei took to Weibo this morning to announce that the Windows edition of the MateBook D is coming soon and also revealed details about availability.
According to the details on the poster, the Windows edition of the MateBook D will be available in both AMD (Ryzen) and Intel options.
The Ryzen variant is already available for pre-order starting today and will be available for purchase on January 1, 2020. The Intel version will not be up for pre-order until 10 AM on January 3, 2020, and will then go on sale at midnight on January 9, 2020. The pre-order and sales apply to both the MateBook D 15 and the MateBook D 14.
Below are the available configurations for the Ryzen Edition and their respective prices:
The MateBook D has a Full HD display with thin bezels and a screen-to-body-ratio of 87%. It has a fingerprint scanner buried underneath the power button while the webcam is hidden between the function keys.
For connectivity, it has 2 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x USB 3.0 ports, 1 x HDMI port, 1 audio + microphone combo port, and 1 x USB Type-C port that serves as the charging port. It has a 42Wh (56Wh for the MateBook D 14) battery with support for 65W fast charge, so it can charge from 0 to 70% in 1 hour. It also has Bluetooth 5.0 but no NFC.
Huawei had unveiled the Huawei Nova 6 SE smartphone along with the Huawei Nova 6 flagship phone at the beginning of this month. As it was announced at the unveil event, the Nova 6 SE was made available for pre-orders in the home market. Starting from today, the smartphone is available for purchase with a price tag of 2,199 Yuan. Customers who had pre-ordered the device will be receiving the phone at a discounted price tag of 2,149 Yuan.
Huawei Nova 6 SE Specifications and Features
The Huawei Nova 6 SE smartphone comes with a 6.4-inch IPS LCD display that produces full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2310 pixels. There is a punch-hole on the screen at the top-left corner. The 7nm Kirin 810 chipset fuels the smartphone. The SoC is coupled with 8 GB of RAM. It has an internal storage of 128 GB. There is a shared SIM slot to add a nanoSD card to the device.
The Nova 6 SE is fitted with a front-facing camera of 16-megapixel. The backside of the device has a triple camera setup with a 48-megapixel main lens with PDAF and f/1.8 aperture. It is assisted by an f/2.4 aperture 8-megapixel ultrawide lens, a 2-megapixel dedicated macro lens with f/2.4 aperture and a 2-megapixel depth sensor with f/2.4 aperture.
A 4,200mAh battery powers the Huawei Nova 6 SE and it carries support for 40W fast charging. The connectivity features that are available on the device include dual SIM support, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS and USB-C. A fingerprint scanner is available on the right side of the device. The Android 10 OS customized with EMUI 10 runs on the device. Phantom Black, Sakura Snow Clear Sky and QJing Forest are the four color editions of the smartphone.
Huawei will be announcing the Huawei P40 and P40 Pro flagship smartphones by the end of the first quarter of 2020. The series will also include a Lite model that may go official before the P40 and P40 Pro phones. Rumors have it that the Nova 6 SE smartphone could be rebadged as Huawei P40 Lite in certain markets. It is advisable to wait for further reports to confirm on it.
Samsung may soon announce a new phone under its Xcover series. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has certified two phones with model numbers SM-G715FN and SM-G715FN_DS, and the product name on the certificate reads Galaxy Xcover Pro.
The Xcover Pro was certified by the WiFi Alliance earlier a few weeks ago, and now that it has also received its Bluetooth certification, its launch should be close.
According to Mishaal Rahman of XDA-Developers, the phone will launch in Europe and will run Android 10 out of the box.
The XCover Pro will be powered by the Exynos 9611 chipset, the same processor inside the Galaxy M30s, and have 4GB of RAM according to a Geekbench benchmark result from earlier this month. It will have support for dual-band WiFi as well as Bluetooth 5.0.
Based on the configuration above, it means the Xcover Pro will arrive as a mid-range rugged smartphone. However, its price tag will definitely be higher than that of a similarly configured device. Also, since Samsung has not released a Galaxy S Active smartphone in a while, this should suffice.
The Galaxy Xcover Pro should have a waterproof and dustproof IP-rating and also a MIL-STD-810G rating.
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